


Advanced Studies in Humanity

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Angst, Community: 14_valentines, Feminist Themes, Kink, Multi, Polyamory, Romance, Threesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-02-01
Updated: 2010-02-05
Packaged: 2017-10-07 01:17:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>For <a href="http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines"><img/></a><a href="http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines"><b>14valentines</b></a> Day 1, <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/14valentines/117610.html">Body Image</a>.  Spock is a little bit clueless about human female body issues.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines)[**14valentines**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines) Day 1, [Body Image](http://community.livejournal.com/14valentines/117610.html). Spock is a little bit clueless about human female body issues.

His hands skim over her stomach just like every other part. Spock is nothing if not thorough, and he derives almost as much pleasure from tracing the contours of her body with the sensitive pads of his fingers as she does. If he knows the geography of her body, however, he does not know its history, and so the tense little twitches and inhalations of breath are to him nothing more than the unpredictability of human desire. He does not know the anxiety Uhura has suffered, trying not to try to conform to the beauty standards of two different continents, or how deep-rooted subconscious human tendencies to judge a woman by her looks rather than by her merits really are. He has no way of knowing what it is like to look in the mirror, willing herself to suck it up and love her body, rather than silently criticise and appraise. His fingers curl in the coarse dark hair over her pubic bone and she remembers another lover and the shame of depilation, how naked and young her vulva looked after that distasteful ritual. She is grateful to Spock, who has no qualms about her body's natural appearance, but confidence cannot come from a man's appreciation alone. She has to reach deep inside herself in the quiet spaces and find an essential core that she can love, a soul that matches the fiery confidence on the outside. Nyota is young, and she has no doubt that she will achieve this. But still, it will take time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines)[**14valentines**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines) Day 2, Transgender Issues. Jim Kirk is a special, special captain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, the mod decided to switch Day 2 with Day 9 at the last minute, which is why there's nothing for me on today's round-up. I'll be doing my contributions in the original order because the story wouldn't make sense otherwise. So look for a link to the Transgender Issues essay on the 9th.

"What the hell is _this_?" Sulu exclaims, waving the flyer in Captain Kirk's general direction. Jim smirks and spreads his legs, leans back in the captain's chair and bites the end off a replicated candy bar. Uhura thinks she preferred apples.

"It is what it looks like, Mr. Sulu. A bit of fun."

"A bit of fun in _dresses_."

A curious expression on his face, Chekov rises from his chair and walks over to Sulu, peeking over his shoulder at the flyer. The First Annual Miss U.S.S. Enterprise Competition is, most notably, open to male crew members only. Chekov's mouth forms a thoughtful pout, and then shifts into his beaming grin. "I think it will be fun, Hikaru! I have always wondered what it would be like to wear a dress!"

"Things I did _not_ need to know about my coworkers, number seven hundred and fifty six."

Uhura smirks at the Texan ensign sitting a few feet away. "Well. Space gets boring."

"Boring enough for _crossdressing_?"

On her other side, Spock's features form a thoughtful frown.

~*~

"Nyota?" he asks later, at dinner. "Crossdressing is the term used to describe the appropriation of garments intended for the opposite sex, correct?"

Uhura nods. "That's right."

"What is the goal of this practice? Amusement?"

She shrugs. "Sometimes. Pleasure, for some. It can be a fetish."

Spock raises one eyebrow as he chews on some replicated spinach. "Sexual in nature?"

Uhura nods.

"Is this the Captain's intent in promoting this... competition?"

Uhura nearly spits out her soda.

"Hey, comrades, what's up?" Jim sits next to Spock, grins at Uhura, and passes her a napkin.

"Nyota was... enlightening me as to the human practice of crossdressing."

"Oh yeah?" Jim grins. "And what have we learned so far?"

"Well, I was just questioning Nyota on the sexual nature of the practice."

"Were you, now?"

"Shut up, James," Uhura interjects. "No, Spock, the point of the competition isn't that Jim has a fetish for ladies undergarments," she says pointedly. "I think."

Jim snorts, unfazed, and steals a bite of Spock's mashed potatoes. "I think you should talk to Chekov about that, if you're curious, Spock. Nah, it's just a bit of fun. You know, something to get crew morale up before the next shore leave."

Spock nods, thoughtful. "This is logical."

"Next, we might have a Mister Enterprise competition," Jim suggests, fixing Uhura with a shit-eating grin. "I wouldn't mind seeing _Nyota_ in drag."

"And I wouldn't mind seeing you keep your mouth shut for twenty-four hours, but we can't always get what we want."

Spock frowns. "Drag, Captain?"

"Slang," Uhura explains. "For crossdressing."

Spock nods. "And this practice is always recreational, for humans?"

"Not always. A small percentage of humans are born into a gender that doesn't match their biological sex," Uhura explains. "They're called transgender. But in that case it's not really crossdressing, it's just wearing the clothes that match the gender. There's a surgery that they can elect to undergo for sexual reassignment if they desire."

"But not all transgender humans choose this surgery?" Spock asks.

Uhura shakes her head. "The technology's been perfected a lot over the years, but there are people who choose to retain their primary or secondary sexual characteristics for different reasons. I don't know a lot about it."

Spock nods, thoughtful, and sips from his teacup. "I will consult Doctor McCoy for more information on the matter at a later time."

Jim grins at Uhura. "Bones'll _love_ that..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines)[**14valentines**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines) Day 3, [Health](http://community.livejournal.com/14valentines/118578.html). When Uhura and the captain both get sick, something shifts.

If space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence, Uhura is eternally glad for the ray of light that Spock presents. The virus is more or less a flu, and Spock is immune to it, like so many other things. Jim and Uhura are, however, decidedly not, and Uhura doesn't have the energy to argue with the solution. It'll pass in a week, Doctor McCoy says, but in the meantime the principal symptom is that they are unbearably _cold_. It's a bone-chilling, internal deep freeze, and there's no way to hide from it. It's Spock who has the idea to get all three of them in the bed he and Uhura normally share, surrounded by blankets, and it may not be a cure but she can't deny that it helps. Spock's body is always like a space heater, and right now it's the only thing that can produce some semblance of normal. Her teeth still chatter, but she believes that she'll survive this. Spock feeds them the nutritional shakes McCoy prescribes twice a day through a straw, and he strokes their hair and keeps them stocked in tissues, and perhaps most surprisingly whispers comforting, nonsense words in their ears when the chill-fever grips them, when delusions creep in around the edges. One afternoon, Uhura's just starting to come up a little when she realises that Jim is crying, his head on Spock's chest next to hers, and it's instinct that has her kissing his forehead, holding him close. Like this, stripped of his defenses and his bravado, unable to conjure the jokes he normally piles on thick with flirtation, Uhura remembers why she _likes_ the captain. For a moment, it's hard to tell who's caring for whom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For [](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines)[**14valentines**](http://www.dreamwidth.org/userinfo?user=14valentines) Day 4, [Reproductive Rights/Motherhood](http://community.livejournal.com/14valentines/119007.html). As Jim and Uhura heal, they question Spock's mothering instincts.

Leonard McCoy is true to his word, and by the end of the week both Jim and Uhura have improved significantly. They still spend most of the seventh day resting, but they can carry on a conversation without dozing off, and they can maintain body heat between the two of them, without Spock in the bed. Uhura tries not to think too hard about that as they lie under the covers, for all intents and purposes cuddling as Spock catches up on both Jim's duties and his own. At night, he returns to them, and Uhura can't bring herself to suggest that Jim leave.

"You know what, Spock?" Jim posits with a grin that alerts Uhura to his returning health more than anything, trailing a finger down the center of Spock's chest. Spock arches one elegant eyebrow, a hand held comfortingly, perhaps a tad possessively at Uhura's lower back.

"I do not know, Jim. Perhaps you would wish to enlighten me."

"You're pretty good at mothering," Jim replies with a little laugh, nuzzling in under Spock's arm. Uhura has to hide her smile.

"Perhaps you are forgetting, captain," Spock says mildly, with only a trace of the emotion Uhura knows he conceals so carefully, "that I had a human mother once, like your own."

Jim smiles, though his expression sobers somewhat. "Perhaps not so much like my own. What was your mother like, Spock?" Jim asks, tracing slow circles on Spock's stomach with the tip of his finger. Uhura follows the patterns with her eyes, privately curious about the answer.

"She was... warm," Spock replies quietly, after a long pause. For a moment there are only the slow, rhythmic sounds of their breathing, and then Jim speaks, his palm aligning to Spock's with a gentle press. They all three know the significance of the gesture, but Uhura doesn't protest.

"I would have liked to have known her," Jim whispers, his index and middle fingers brushing Spock's. They exhale in unison.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For 14valentines Day 5, Sexuality. Spock's fabulous at some parts of sex, but new to others.

Sex with a Vulcan took some getting used to at first. 

Spock never had the kinds of hang-ups about sexuality that a human male would, and Uhura found that instantly refreshing. His concern about the emotion involved in sexual release meant that initially, he focused only on pleasing her, which was a nice change. For several weeks, he simply focused on the combination of licks and sucks and scraping of teeth that would ilicit the strongest response, not only in her genital region, but in fact all over her body. He found erogenous zones she didn't know she had, simply because no one had ever focused on them before. He perfected every movement, from the feathery trail of a fingertip up the spine to the sharp clench of teeth around her nipple, and his dedication to the task meant that it was nearly a month before she even bothered to ask what _he_ might appreciate.

It's not that she is a selfish lover; far from it; but from the start he welcomed the relaxation that would come in her when she was able to simply let go and allow herself to _feel_. And so she too learned to love those moments, though despite her humanity she is hardly an open book emotionally. It took coaxing, and he recognized that difficulty in her immediately, just as she learned to read the subtle cues that would tell her when it was okay to proceed, to draw emotion out of him, and when it was not "okay" but needed nonetheless.

Now, there is a wide range of options available to them sexually, and Uhura hardly remembers the taboos that humans normally hold, so varied is her sex life with Spock. She has a slim blue vibrator whose function fascinated Spock from the get-go, and it is with a measure of delight that she will lubricate and ease it into his ass, holding the end firmly to ensure that his pleasured thrashing does not earn him a trip to Doctor McCoy to retrieve the buzzing plastic device. Other times he will slip a finger into _her_ anus, and though she would not in a _million years_ have considered that as an option in previous relationships, the additional stimulation brings out something wild and new in her. The same is true of his hands on her biceps, holding her firmly against the wall of her quarters as he teases between her legs with his swelling prick, and of her finger in his mouth when she sits on his chest, demanding him to pay homage to her in a very Vulcan way. There is no one dominant in the relationship, but there is something thrilling in playing with power from both ends, something that gets turned into a very interesting dynamic indeed when one Jim Kirk enters their lives in an unexpected way.

If Spock has some things to teach Uhura about Vulcan sexuality--the openness regarding body parts and manners of copulation, the eroticism of the hands--it's Uhura that has to explain the entirely foreign concept of polyamory when Jim kisses her one day, a sweet kiss full of promise that gets him hoisted up against the wall by the throat for his trouble. He'd done it in full view of Spock and, he explains later, rubbing his neck with a little accusatory glare, he'd_thought_ Spock had understood what was developing between them. In truth, he hadn't, not at all, but over time he becomes a willing student.

It's not in a Vulcan's nature to form a bond with more than one partner, not in the slightest, and at first Spock doesn't think he can do it. But Jim Kirk has a way of cannoodling his way into almost anything, and Uhura has her own charms. Slowly, they teach him the beauty of this new practice, and slowly he begins not only to acquiesce to it but to embrace it. 

It starts with Jim and Spock together, because there's still that growl in the base of his throat when Jim touches her, and he's comforted by the solid presence of Uhura at his back or his side, a constant reassurance as he and Jim explore what is starting to grow and smoulder between them. Jim's as reckless and carefree in bed as she expected, and things are faster between the two of them, but it doesn't bother her as much as she thought it would. He has this way with her, a wink that will win her over though the suggestion that that's all it would take would have been offensive before they found this. Eventually Spock learns the benefits of having someone physically stronger in bed, someone he's not so afraid to break (though Uhura has seen the tenderness in his eyes when Jim dozes, his head in Spock's lap, and she does not doubt one bit that Spock would kill anyone who tried to disrupt the captain's sleep in those moments). He learns, too, that with Jim they can both be dominant, and they can explore that aspect of their sexuality concurrently, rather than simultaneously. And through that, he allows them to be together, he allows Jim to hold her and finger her pussy and say nasty things in her ear as he bites the lobe. He watches when she rides him, hissing and cursing, his fingernails digging into the muscles of her ass. He no longer sees such acts as a challenge, as a threat to Uhura or to himself. They are simply parts of their sexuality, and he is learning to accept, and even to ask for them. 

Uhura considers this progress significant indeed.


End file.
